If Driving Your Non-Air C3 Corvette Has You Sweating Like Rocky Balboa In A Title Fight, Vintage Air Has The Solution To Make Driving Your Vette More Enjoyable.

It’s easy to forget that cars without air conditioning were more common than cars with air back in the day. And while it was just as hot then as it is today, because A/C wasn’t as common in cars, people just dealt with it. Today it’s a different story. Everyone’s used to climbing into just about any car and cranking up the air conditioning on a hot summer day to cool off. Driving down the road with that cool refreshing air blowing in your face is great, unless you happen to be in a vintage car with no A/C.

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Seeing the demand for retrofit A/C for old Bow Ties, the cooling experts at Vintage Air have come up with direct fit air condition systems that put ice cold air in cars that never had it from the factory, along with kits for factory air cars as well. In most cases, the new A/C units offer superior cooling and comfort than the factory system, especially on the Corvette.

After a few rides in the hot Florida summer in Editor Campisano’s ’72 Corvette, we knew that this car was a perfect candidate for one of Vintage Air’s kits. The car is an original LT1 steed, but the original engine was long gone when our Don purchased the car a couple of years ago. An interesting fact about the ’72 was it was the first and only year a buyer could get factory A/C with the LT1 engine in a Corvette. Research shows only 240 cars left the factory so equipped, but this one wasn’t in that rare group.

For our install we went to the local air conditioning experts at Mark’s Air Inc. unless you’re very mechanically inclined and/or your car is already torn apart for restoration, this type of install is best done by a professional. In business for over 30 years, Mark’s Air has been specializing in A/C installs in a variety of vehicles, from vintage non-A/C classic cars and street rods to heavy duty industrial vehicles such as semis, garbage trucks, and school busses.

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1972 Corvette Aftermarket Air Conditioning Install - Keeping Cool

This ’72 corvette was an original LT1/four-speed equipped, non-air car. The LT1 was long gone when Editor Campisano purchased the car a couple of years ago, so a built small block was dropped in between the fenders. With only 240 factory air LT1 Corvettes built in ’72, it’s rare to find one so equipped.

The first order of business is to get the hood removed and out of the way to make working in the engine compartment easier. Even though it’s made out of fiberglass, this hood is still pretty bulky, so get a friend or two to help remove it.

After draining the radiator and all the coolant we could, the first step was to remove the washer fluid reservoir, then the factory blower motor, then the blower motor/heater core engine compartment cover.

To provide access for the removal of the old parts and install of the new A/C system, most of the dash needs to be disassembled. First to come out is the bezel that houses the wiper switch (replaced later with a directional air vent like on factory air cars), the center column gauge console, then the passenger side dash panel.

With everything out of the way, it’s just a matter of a few bolts and the factory heater core box and air ducting comes out. To make this part a little less messy, cap off the heater core pipes in the engine compartment before removal, so you don’t spill coolant all over the interior.

Next, this rusty bracket has to be removed. The Vintage Air kit caps off the factory Astro Ventilation ports and factory outside air ducts. After this bracket is removed, the included caps are press fit over the vent tube to seal the duct off.

Next up, the factory blower motor firewall hole is capped off using this included block off plate. A bead of silicon sealer is used around the edge to help seal the plate so moisture and dirt can’t get into the interior, along with hot air form the Corvette’s cramped engine compartment.

After attaching the mounting brackets to the new condenser, it’s lowered into place and mounted in front of the radiator using the factory core support and the holes already there. The Vintage Air condenser is much larger than the factory condenser, increasing cooling capacity and efficiency of the A/C system.

With the condenser installed, it’s time to drill the holes for the A/C tubing through the core support using the including drilling template. This is where you’ll need a small hole saw and to take some care since you’ll be right next to the body and don’t want to mess up your paint or damage anything.

Another template is used to drill the holes on the back side of the core support t run the A/C lines through. For this part a right-angle head drill will make drilling a lot easier because of the tight quarters.

Once the two initial holes are dilled, the hole is opened up to this size to make installing the A/C lines easier. Vintage Air includes the white plastic material to use on the sharp edges of the hole so they don’t wear into the A/C lines.

With the holes drilled, the accumulator/drier is bolted in place, then the A/C line from the drier to the condenser hooked up. Leave all the A/C lines loose for now so any adjustments for fit will be easier to make. The Vintage Air system uses a binary pressure cycling switch, so if your car has electric fans they will still only come on once the engine gets up to temperature, not when the A/C is on. Consider installing a tertiary switch if your car has electric fans.

For where the A/C lines run through the wheel well, this protective cover is screwed in place using supplied self tapping screws. This will keep rocks and any other road debris kicked up by the front tire from knocking a hole in the A/C lines.

The Vintage Air kit utilizes the factory defroster ducting, but modified as shown here to make space for the new Vintage Air unit. The duct is cut as shown using a provided template so there’s no guess work involved.

With the vent tube attachment in place on the factory defroster duct, it’s bolted back in place like it was before. The adapter uses clips to attach firmly in place.

Next, the vent tube adapters are screwed in place on the dash panel vents, so the hoses from the new system will hook into the factory vents for a clean look.

On the driver’s side, the gauge panel has to be pulled out so the ducting can be run from the driver’s side panel vent to the A/C unit, and the duct adapter installed. To remove the panel, the steering column must be lowered, but not removed.

To make sure the vent tubing stays in place when installed, a supplied screw is used to secure it to the vent. This also keeps the tube secure while routing the ducting through to the A/C unit.

The factory wiper switch mounts to the new center dash panel vent using this supplied bracket. The bracket also serves as a ground spot for the ground wire from the switch.

Back in the engine compartment, the firewall has to be modified to fit the new A/C unit. Vintage Air really helps installers out with the included templates that show where to cut, and where NOT to cut. Here you can see the amount of firewall that needs to be removed using a small saw or grinder. If your cut isn’t exactly perfect, use a small die grinder to make it work. Also wear a mask so you don’t breath in a bunch of fiberglass dust, not good for the lungs!

The new firewall block off plate has to have holes drilled for mounting. Because of the production variances of individual cars, these holes are left undrilled by Vintage Air so the installer can fit the panel to his own particular vehicle.

Here you can see the cut made on the firewall to clear the new A/C systems. Don’t worry if the hole isn’t perfectly shaped, it’ll all be covered up by the previous mentioned firewall panel.

Here’s the new, self contained Vintage Air A/C unit. The heater core, evaporator, duct controls, everything is contained in this one unit. The Vintage Air unit features a much bigger evaporator then the stock A/C system, again increasing cooling efficiency and capacity. The new unit also uses solenoid controlled duct flappers instead of the factory style vacuum controls, so operation is smoother, more reliable, and not affected by engine vacuum.

Before installation in the dash, this piece of included plastic is taped over the electric control solenoids for the vents. Because C3 Corvettes are known to leak around the windshields, Vintage Air recommends covering the solenoids so they don’t get wet and fail.

After covering the solenoids, all the attachment brackets are installed on the new unit, along with the Freon lines. Take care when installing the lines to make sure they’re tightened properly, and don’t have any nicks or punctures.

Now it’s time to install the controls for the new A/C system. The factory control panel has to be removed to get at the inner workings. The vent control knobs have a small screw that secures them in place, and they have to be loosed so the knobs can come off, otherwise the control unit can’t be removed.

Here’s the factory non-A/C climate controls. The Vintage Air controls look and work like the factory ones, but eliminate the vacuum control valves. The kit comes with a new control face for the panel too.

First, the factory control bracket has to be drilled so the new controller will mount up. Since the metal is thin and easily bent, use a good, flat surface to brace it against when drilling.

With the holes drilled, the new Vintage Air bracket is installed (black piece in middle) followed by the control arms that connect to the factory control wheels.

Next, the new control boards and their housings are installed. The two arms installed in the previous step attach to electronic sliders that send a corresponding signal back to the A/C unit controlling the vents, temperature, etc.

The car’s 37-year-old control face is replaced with a brand new A/C labeled one from Vintage Air. If you have a car that already has A/C, you won’t have to change the face.

The control harness for the A/C unit plugs into each control board on the panel.

A similar plug/control board plugs into the factory fan control switch, which stays in the stock location.

Here’s how everything looks all buttoned up and ready to be re-installed in the center console.

The Vintage Air kit eliminates the factory Astro Ventilation system, along with the two vacuum actuated vents right behind the rear window. By disconnecting the vacuum hose, the vents will always stay closed.

The old plug for the blower fan switch isn’t needed anymore, so we taped over it to prevent the plug from deteriorating, and to prevent any electrical problems. Also, you can remove any of the vacuum tubing and related items from this area that were connected to the old controls. Just make sure you plug any “live” vacuum lines coming from the engine so you don’t end up with a vacuum leak behind the dash.

The kick panel vents are maintained in the new system for outside air, so their control cables are re-attached.

Everything hooked back up and screwed in, here’s how the new controls look. With a great original look, only an expert would know those aren’t factory original A/C controls. We couldn’t get out hands on a new ashtray during the install, but will be replacing our old crusty one in the near future.

Back in the engine compartment, a new mounting hole is drilled in the firewall.

We temporarily set the new unit in place to determine where we needed to drill an extra mounting hole for the new unit. Once everything was measure, we pulled it back out and drilled the necessary hole.

With all mounting holes set, the new A/C unit is installed and bolted in. From there all the new control cables were plugged into the new A/C unit, and we checked to make sure everything was fitting properly and secure.

With the unit in place, we screwed in the new firewall cover. To help seal out moisture and heat, a bead of silicon was run around the perimeter of the plate. The silicon also helps keep it in place while the retaining screws are installed.

Back outside, we had to run the wiring from the control unit to the pressure cycling switch and A/C compressor.

The fun part was running all the air ducting through the Corvette’s cramped dash area. The ducting is flexible and has plenty of play and stretch to get them all hooked up to the right vent. Be sure you following the diagram in the instructions and hook each duct up to its corresponding spot on the A/C unit.

The new center dash vent is hooked up, and you can also see how the factory wiper switch is installed. At this point the console gauge panel is reinstalled. When re-installed the gauge console make sure you don’t pinch any of the A/C ducts and cut off air flow. The space behind the dash is tight, so this can be tricky.

Here’s how the new dash vent looks fully installed. We weren’t totally pleased with the look, so we hunted around and found a factory A/C vent to use instead. This required a little bit of modification the new A/C ducting, but nothing major, and was well worth a more robust factory look.

Along with running a constant power supply wire back to the battery, this purple wire is wired into a key on power supply to activate and power the new A/C unit’s controller.

Back in the engine compartment, it was time to mount the A/C compressor. The original Factory Air bracket wouldn’t work on this Corvette due to a non-original engine, taller valve covers, and a few other factors that affected clearance and belt alignment. According to Gordon, this is typical with most A/C installs in older cars that didn’t have factory air. This is also another reason why having an A/C retrofit done by an experienced shop is the best way to go unless your skills as a mechanic are above average.

The compressor that came with our Vintage Air kit was a standard Sanden unit with top entry ports (left). This created some hood clearance issues, so Gordon swapped out the top entry “head” (back piece on the compressor) for a rear entry head (right) that provided plenty of hood clearance.

Another item wired in besides the pressure cycling switch and compressor clutch was the new in-line electrically controlled heater valve in place of the factory vacuum controlled valve.

With the compressor installed the new A/C belt is slipped on. The Vintage Air kit comes with new water pump, crankshaft, and power steering pump pulleys, but you might still have to do some swapping and slight modifications to get the belts and pulleys to line up correctly. Several different water pumps were used on small blocks over the years, and along with production differences in pulleys, coming up with a standard fit pulley set that will cover every application is near impossible.

We had to do some fuel line modifications so the lines feeding the carb weren’t too close to the A/C belt. The thought of a belt flying off and taking out the fuel line, then spraying gas all over the hot headers didn’t make us feel too good. Modifying the line was easy enough and only took a few minutes, well worth a safer car for sure.

Because we changed the head on the compressor, the included A/C lines wouldn’t fit. This wasn’t a problem, as Mark’s Air makes custom high pressure and low pressure A/C lines every day. This is another reason why having a good, experienced A/C shop/professional doing this install is advantageous.

With all the lines hooked up and everything set, the system was vacuumed out, then pressure and leak tested before filling using a special automotive air condition diagnostic machine. Using a machine like this ensures there is no debris in the lines that could clog up the expansion valve or damage the compressor, and the included leak check means you won’t waste a bunch of expensive Freon in a leaking A/C system.

With everything finished up, the hood is dropped back on and bolted in place. On a near 90 degree day, the car was ten times more comfortable than it had been before. The interiors of the C3s were notorious for being ovens because of exhaust and engine heat, but the Vintage Air system kept things nice and comfortable. On a short drive that normally would have had us soaked in sweat, we were still dry as a bone.